Method and Apparatus for Prioritizing Voice Over Internet Protocol Signaling Messages

1. A method for enabling prioritization of signaling messages in a communication network, comprising: receiving a signaling message; classifying the signaling message; scheduling the signaling message for processing; and discarding selectively the signaling message that has been scheduled under an overload condition, wherein the discarding comprises discarding the signaling message that has been scheduled from a non-provisional message queue using a head drop trigger discard method if a provisional queue is empty and the non-provisional message queue is not empty when a high priority message or a non-provisional signaling message is newly received, wherein the head drop trigger discard method comprises: initializing a dropping zone to a tail dropping zone and a dropping counter to zero when the head drop trigger discard method has not previously been initialized; setting the dropping zone to a head dropping zone if the dropping counter has exceeded a predetermined head drop trigger threshold; and setting the dropping zone to a tail dropping zone if the dropping counter has returned to zero.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication network is a voice over internet protocol network.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the signaling message is classified into one of: a high priority, a non-provisional priority, or a provisional priority.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the signaling message is classified based on a customer type and a signaling message type by a user agent client.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the scheduling comprises: placing the signaling message into one of a plurality of class processing queues; scheduling all signaling messages classified as high priority to be processed before signaling messages classified as non-provisional priority, or as provisional priority; and scheduling signaling messages classified as non-provisional priority, or as provisional priority, using a first in first out (FIFO) order.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: incrementing the dropping counter by one every time a signaling message is dropped from the tail of the non-provisional message queue when the dropping zone is set to the tail dropping zone; and decrementing the dropping counter by one every time a signaling message is dropped from the head of the non-provisional message queue when the dropping zone is set to the head dropping zone.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the signaling messages are session initiation protocol signaling messages.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for enabling prioritization of signaling messages in a communication network, comprising: receiving a signaling message; classifying the signaling message; scheduling the signaling message for processing; and discarding selectively the signaling message that has been scheduled under an overload condition, wherein the discarding comprises discarding the signaling message that has been scheduled from a non-provisional message queue using a head drop trigger discard method if a provisional queue is empty and the non-provisional message queue is not empty when a high priority message or a non-provisional signaling message is newly received, wherein the head drop trigger discard method comprises: initializing a dropping zone to a tail dropping zone and a dropping counter to zero when the head drop trigger discard method has not previously been initialized; setting the dropping zone to a head dropping zone if the dropping counter has exceeded a predetermined head drop trigger threshold; and setting the dropping zone to a tail dropping zone if the dropping counter has returned to zero.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the signaling message is classified into one of: a high priority, a non-provisional priority, or a provisional priority.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the signaling message is classified based on a customer type and a signaling message type by a user agent server.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the scheduling comprises: placing the signaling message into one of a plurality of class processing queues; scheduling all signaling messages classified as high priority to be processed before signaling messages classified as non-provisional priority, or as provisional priority; and scheduling signaling messages classified as non-provisional priority, or as provisional priority, using a first in first out order.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises: incrementing the dropping counter by one every time a signaling message is dropped from the tail of the non-provisional message queue when the dropping zone is set to the tail dropping zone; and decrementing the dropping counter by one every time a signaling message is dropped from the head of the non-provisional message queue when the dropping zone is set to the head dropping zone.

13. An apparatus for enabling prioritization of signaling messages in a communication network, comprising: a processor; and a computer-readable medium in communication with the processor, the computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a method, comprising: receiving a signaling message; classifying the signaling message; scheduling the signaling message for processing; and discarding selectively the signaling message that has been scheduled under an overload condition, wherein the discarding comprises discarding the signaling message that has been scheduled from a non-provisional message queue using a head drop trigger discard method if a provisional queue is empty and the non-provisional message queue is not empty when a high priority message or a non-provisional signaling message is newly received, wherein the head drop trigger discard method comprises: initializing a dropping zone to a tail dropping zone and a dropping counter to zero when the head drop trigger discard method has not previously been initialized; setting the dropping zone to a head dropping zone if the dropping counter has exceeded a predetermined head drop trigger threshold; and setting the dropping zone to a tail dropping zone if the dropping counter has returned to zero.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises: incrementing the dropping counter by one every time a signaling message is dropped from the tail of the non-provisional message queue when the dropping zone is set to the tail dropping zone; and decrementing the dropping counter by one every time a signaling message is dropped from the head of the non-provisional message queue when the dropping zone is set to the head dropping zone.